God intends for healthy bodies to grow, prosper and reproduce. That includes you, your family, your business, your ministry, and World Ministry Fellowship.

In the parable of the talents, God reveals his intent that we increase by our good stewardship. “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance” (Matt 25:29).

For years I only heard the negative aspects of this parable, the “use it or lose it” side of the message – which is also true. But by so doing, I missed Jesus’ revelation of his Father’s heart, and ended up more in fear than faith. I missed the point that God intended for me to increase! By implementing God’s principles of healthy sowing and reaping, God wants us to expect growth, harvest and increase. I believe this applies not only to finances, but also to the gifts, the anointing, and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I grew up on the farm, and no farmer would expect to harvest crops in the fall that they did not plant in the springtime. Who would think of such a thing? Farmers know they must get that seed properly planted in the spring if they are to expect a harvest and its resulting increase of that seed in the fall. Good farmers rely on the laws of sowing and reaping.

We can see from this line of thought that the key to increase is in the proper use of our resources. Let’s put what we have in our hand to work - Our gifts, our revelations, and our finances. We in the church should be the first to expect a harvest from God on the good seed we have planted through the years. It is right to expect healthy increase from God on those things over which we have stewardship. Be encouraged, its harvest time in the Kingdom of God!

As we prepare for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, it is important that we be thankful for the amazing things God has done, and is doing in our midst. I am thankful that our fellowship is filled with the kindest and most generous people on the planet. Please join me in sending a huge thank you to those who supported the hurricane relief efforts this year. Your generosity resulted in many people giving thanks to God for his help in times of trouble!

In light of these things, I would like to ask you to consider remembering World Ministry Fellowship in your year-end giving. Click here to give online. WMF is entering a new era of service to the Kingdom, and your giving can help us plant new crops in the year ahead.

Last week I had the opportunity to accompany a few leaders from our church who attended the Worship and Leadership Conference at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. This was our third year to attend and we always come away feeling blessed, renewed and challenged personally, and for greater ministry.Two days later Pam and I had the honor of attending the WMF Oklahoma State Meeting in Langley with pastor Jack Nester and State Director, Jim McCool. Although we were only able to attend Friday night, I can truly say we had an amazing time with WMF family and friends. For the second time in a week, we walked away refreshed, challenged and empowered having been in the presence of God and his children who are called into ministry.My point is, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunities we have to get together with like-minded ministers, especially in our WMF family. As we share stories, Scripture, prayer, the Holy Spirit and a lot of hugs, God draws us together and makes us stronger. The Gateway conference had around 4,000 in attendance while the Oklahoma State meeting had about 35, but I have to say we were richly blessed at both. Numbers do not dictate the richness of fellowship and the freshness of rejuvenation. Our attitude and the presence of God are the deciding factors, and I must say the relationships we have in WMF are more precious and powerful as any in a larger setting!Don’t get me wrong, we are certainly on track to grow WMF in numbers, which is high priority. However, it’s only by the Spirit of God guiding us and good relationships encouraging us that true God-driven growth happens. People are drawn to a fellowship, much like a church, who have good relationships as a priority. And, like a church, people may come the first time because of great preaching, but they will return and become an actual part because of relationships.The Big God we serve is a relationship God. He places the highest of priorities on our relationship with Him, and by extension, relationships with His children. It’s that greatest commandment thing: “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart…soul…mind…and strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30, 31). When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, He felt compelled to quote two. Why? Because to God they are inseparable!Continue to be in prayer for WMF and each other, as well as for all those affected by recent hurricanes, earthquakes, and the tragic shooting in Las Vegas. We certainly live in a crazy world, but all the more reason to let our light shine!-Brian Sharp

It is so important, especially in these challenging times, that we not “give up meeting together …but encourage one another—and all the more as we see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25 my translation).” We need each other.

After hurricanes, earthquakes, natural disasters, terrorism, and the daily bombardment of trauma in the news, we need each other more than ever.

Please make every effort to participate in the state or regional events available to you – they are listed under “Events” below. Even if you don’t feel like you need your WMF family at the moment, your WMF family needs you!

Also, thank you to the many who have given financially to support your WMF family who have suffered mightily from the hurricanes – your generosity has been astounding. Those funds have and are continuing to be distributed, and are greatly appreciated!

We comfort others with the comfort we have received. Let’s gather together whenever possible and minister to each other. Please find a state or regional event you can attend so you can enjoy what WMF does best – fellowship!

The Call to MaturityI have been reading Strengthen Yourself in the Lord by Bill Johnson and wanted to share this quote with you.An invitation is before us. We are living in days of revival in which God is bringing wonderful times of refreshing to His Church and drawing the lost to taste His salvation through mighty acts of power. But through this extravagant outpouring of grace, the Father is hoping to woo a generation of His sons and daughters to embrace the call to maturity, the call to contend in His strength for the personal breakthroughs we need to carry greater measures of His Kingdom power and love to the world around us. This is the race set before us. May we be those who learn to bring strength to ourselves, that we might run with perseverance!I believe this word could not be more appropriate for where we are in our society, our nation, and our fellowship – for the church, and you and me in particular, to embrace God’s call to maturity.We must learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord, to become mature self-feeders, and live refreshed in the Lord enough to minister the life of Christ to those around us. I do not want to be forced to attempt another ministry effort from an empty well (lived that way for a while and didn’t like it). I am not talking about the times when, after giving of ourselves greatly, we are asked to give even more. God honors and supports that type of effort. I am talking about when we live empty because of the daily decisions we make that preclude us from taking the quality time necessary to receive a fresh word from God. God’s mercies are new every morning, and he wants to give us our daily bread. He wants us so full of his presence that when we are squeezed, all that comes out is Jesus, the fruit of a life filled with his Spirit.I have found it challenging over the years, but I know I need to regularly eat at God’s table, so when an opportunity presents itself, I will be able to give to others that which I have received from the Lord. Not that I have attained my goal, but I choose to pursue maturity in Christ. Likewise, I believe we must work toward making WMF a fellowship that creates life giving content to help people encourage themselves in the Lord and grow. I will be sharing more about this in the weeks and months ahead. This is why our theme for our NE Regional Event is Preparing Our Nets, and why I will be sharing on Communications, Media, and Building a Platform for Discipleship. Please pray about attending this event, you will receive greatly from Dr John Chasteen and Pastor Fiifi Pentsel - click here to register.I have decided to accept God’s invitation to regularly dine with him, I hope you will too!Sincerely,Tim McKitrickPS. Terri Clark’s new book Fanning the Flame: Reigniting Your Faith in God speaks to this very theme of avoiding and/or overcoming Spiritual Burnout. You can preorder here….it should be out soon!

At the time I’m writing this Hurricane Harvey has swept across Texas and is working its way across the southeastern U.S. leaving a path of destruction and massive flooding in its wake. And, by the time you read this, Hurricane Irma may have done something similar. As you have already been informed via email, Facebook, website, etc., World Ministry Fellowship has a Hurricane Assistance Fund to help those in our fellowship, as well as possibly others outside of WMF. When Hurricane Katrina hit several years ago we were able to help several at that time, similarly we reactivated this special fund to do the same now. When we refer to ourselves as “WMF family” we try to back up our words with action. It is hard to express the helpless feeling you get when faced with the nearly overwhelming task of managing clean-up, displacement, replacement, rebuild, insurance claims, etc., etc. But when you have God to cast all your care on and a good faith family to back you up, the burden is lightened and encouragement comes. That’s one of the greatest blessings of being a part of the Body of Christ. We are not alone!One more thing to consider – as the news cycle moves onto other stories that make big headlines, the long, tedious process of clean-up and restoration will continue on for many months, even years in many cases. We must remember to keep on praying and even giving monetary gifts to help those who continue in this process. Here in Missouri where I live, we have had four floods in the last eight years so we know a little about these things, but our experience pales in comparison to what has occurred in Texas and other places as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Storms in this life (even literal ones!) should cause us to simply look to our God who is able to “do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). And one way He does that is to reminds us… “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 4:6-7Now, that’s the best way to calm the storm, no matter how big!-Brian Sharp